George Wright and finding a hidden gem in own collection

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Posted By: Jason Mishelow

This is the first time that I have found what seems to be a significant find hidden in my own collection. A couple of years back I pruchased a August 30, 1862 copy of "The spirit of the times" (A 19th century sporting paper) The purchase was for the early baseball box scores. I just noticed however that the cricket reporting may be more interesting as the box lists H. Wright and Jim Creighton. More interesting however is the notice of George (Georgy) Wright playing a game as a 15 year old "promising youth in cricket" If this is the correct George Wright I have to belevie that this marks the first appearence of baseball first stars

Two questions here

1. Am I correct about identifiaction?

2. Have any others made finds in thier own collections

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Posted By: barrysloate

Jason- George Wright was a star athlete and was playing competitive cricket as a young teenager, so that is him. The Creighton reference is interesting as that was less than two months before his death.

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Posted By: Jason Mishelow

I thought about that with Creighton--I am wondering if there are any more box scores closer to his death which may hint at whether the fatal injury occured in a cricket match or a baseball game?

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Posted By: barrysloate

What I heard- and there are differing opinions- is that Creighton injured himself in a cricket match, continued to play before it fully healed, and then fatally reinjured himself running out a home run. But I can't confirm this.

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Posted By: George Dreher

I recall hearing that he took such a vicious swing at a pitch that it ruptured him internally. He continued playing in pain and died a few hours after returning home. It was a baseball game and the bats were massive and heavy.